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VimpelCom completes upgrade to Mediaroom 2.0

Muscovite systems integrator Sotal-Interactive has finished upgrading the IPTV platform of major Russian telco VimpelCom to version 2.0 of the Microsoft Mediaroom middleware platform.

Describing the project as unique in terms of scope, locations and complexity, Sotal-Interactive reports that the upgrade process involved more than 450 servers and more than 30 locations hosting Microsoft Mediaroom local offices, distributed over a huge swathe of the Russian Federation stretching from west to east.

The new version of Microsoft Mediaroom is expected to increase the stability of VimpelCom’s IPTV service through the optimisation of the server-side platform, as well as speed up the search of available films and programs, update the VOD interface, and enable the launch of a number of additional service features.

First and foremost however, the new platform will enable the addition of various over-the-top (OTT) services onto the IPTV platform, according to Timur Alyautdinov, director of broadband and digital TV at VimpelCom, who refrains from mentioning them by name.

VimpelCom launched its IPTV service under the Beeline brand in May 2009, and had reached 141,000 IPTV subscribers by the end of March 2011, according to estimates by Informa Telecoms & Media (publisher of IP&TV News).

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